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BOSTON (AP) — Boston University asked a judge Friday to quash or change a subpoena the Boston City Council issued to the school's president, demanding that he appear at a hearing on diversity.
The university said in court papers that Robert Brown was scheduled to be out of town for the Dec. 2 hearing and that the summons was "an undue burden" and an attempt to harass Brown, The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/15HXTYK ) reported.
BU said it had offered to make either a panel of other university officials available at next week's hearing, or have Brown testify at a future meeting of the council on the subject.
The dispute between councilors and the city's largest university intensified after Brown was initially requested to testify at an Oct. 24 hearing on diversity among students and employees at colleges and universities in Boston.
BU instead submitted written testimony, which councilors considered unacceptable, prompting the subpoena for Brown to appear in person.
"My question, and the question I have to pose to Boston University: what do you have to hide?" Councilor Tito Jackson, chairman of the Education Committee, said Friday.
Jackson told the newspaper that the university had not explained to him what would prevent Brown from attending the Dec. 2 hearing.
The court motion indicated that Brown was scheduled to attend a meeting of the DuPont's board of directors, on which he serves.
Jackson has "taken an unreasonable position and remains unwilling to change the date of the hearing," according to the court filing.
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